Chamorro Land Trust Commission Chairwoman Pika Fejeran, displays a list of Chamorro Land Trust By-passed applicants published in 2009, during a commission meeting in Tamuning on Thursday, May 17, 2018. The commission is addressing concerns regarding some applications and processing of land trust applications, dating back as far as 1995, during a commission meeting on Thursday, May 17, 2018. The commission has recently come under public scrutiny regarding land trust applications in the area of Barrigada Heights.(Photo: Rick Cruz/PDN)

Pika Fejeran, chairwoman of the commission said there were a lot of things done wrong in the past and the commission needs to make it right, and that the law establishing the trust’s rules and regulations must be followed moving forward.

Fejeran said there have been 30 lease swaps, with 17 leases issued in Dededo, Barrigada, Yigo and Mangilao. Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson has said leases issued to applicants who swapped places with someone else on the waiting list are null and void, unless a designated relative took a dead applicant's spot on the waiting list.

Failed the community, those who signed up

The commission also needs to look into reports that people on the list were wrongly skipped, and that staff members of the commission awarded leases to family members, as well as the fact that leases weren’t processed on the first-come, first- served requirement of the program.

It’s great that the Chamorro Land Trust Commission plans to now start following the land lease program’s rules and regulations, but that’s simply not enough.

The board should be embarrassed and ashamed that it allowed all of these problems to occur under its watch. It failed the community and many of those who signed up for leases, and must do much more than do better from here on out.

The commission’s board needs to send a clear message and ensure that every employee, from those in the lowest ranks up to Land Trust management and leaders, is held accountable for any violation of the regulations.